Divine Intervention
by NettieC
Summary: Harm and Mac get together with a little help from above.


AN: Hello, hopefully there are a few out there who remember me. Firstly, thanks to those who have been reading through my portfolio. I'm glad people are still getting enjoyment from my stories and are letting me know through either reviews or PMs. Secondly, I am aware my Lily and Ella series have gone nowhere lately. I have the desire to write but also have a severe case of writer's block. I just can't get it written, no matter how many times I open the file.

That brings us to this story and a few others which may appear in the near future. I am cleaning up my laptop and a few hard drives and have come across some stories I haven't posted on here. I believe I wrote them for JAGHeadquarters FF. There are a couple of errors in them, some of the punctuation is Australian, not American, which is why I know they are really old. Some of the storylines are not my greatest but evidence my early writing skills. Anyway, I'm hoping that this exercise in reviewing and uploading these stories will get the creative juices flowing once more.

Thanks!

Divine Intervention

By Nettie

 **Harm's Apartment**

 **Friday 2300**

It was freezing cold and stormy outside and nobody in their right mind was on the street. Harm looked out from his apartment and through the rain streaked window he thought he saw Mac pull up in her corvette across the road. He rubbed the glass to get a better look but it didn't help. He watched a woman open the car door slightly and push out an umbrella which she quickly opened up. She got out of the car and hurried across the road and out of his line of vision.

Harm checked his watch, it was nearly 2300. He had no idea as to why Mac would be coming to his apartment, especially at this time of night. He turned from the window to watch his door, waiting for the knock to come but it never did. After five or so minutes, Harm opened the door and looked out into the hallway, there was no one there. He went to the elevator and pressed the button. The doors slid open and it was empty.

Harm walked back to his apartment. _I must have been mistaken_ he thought to himself. He went back to the window and was just in time to see the woman get back into her car. She fiddled with her keys and the combination of rain and darkness caused her to drop them. She retrieved them, opened her car and departed. Harm continued to watch after the corvette long after it had disappeared from sight.

He looked back to where the car had been parked and caught the glimmer of a metallic object on the road. Harm ran downstairs to retrieve the object and when he had it back in his apartment he was very surprised to see it was a very familiar key ring. It was the one he had given Mac as a joke for Halloween a few years back. He had bought it as a novelty but Mac had told him the witch on it with the warty nose reminded her of Singer and had attached it to her key chain.

Confused as to why Mac would travel all the way to his apartment late on a very wet Friday night and then not come in, Harm picked up the phone and dialled her cell number. It went through to her voice mail so he asked her to phone him whenever she could, regardless of the time. He stayed up past midnight but the phone didn't ring.

In the early hours of Saturday morning Harm was awoken by the noise of someone in his kitchen. Quietly he got out of bed, retrieved his gun and crept from the bedroom. He scanned his apartment but could see no one. As the door creaked he spun around to see it was slightly ajar. He ran to the door and looked out but saw nothing. He flicked on the lights and saw a blue envelope sitting on his coffee table. The writing was familiar, even from across the room.

He opened the envelope and pulled out the matching blue notepaper it contained.

 _Dear Harm,_

 _I bet you think I am a coward for leaving you a letter and not talking to you. It's just that you keep wanting us to talk and any conversation we try and have about us never works out and there is always so much misinterpreted and left unsaid._

 _So I decided that if I wrote it all down I could get my thoughts in order and explain things to you._

 _We have known each other for what seems like forever and some days I think the person I was before I met you no longer exists. That young woman who was so caught up in what had happened to her and how life was so unfair disappeared some time ago now. Unfortunately she left a legacy and that is a difficulty with love._

 _I realised early on, as a child and as a teenager, that I was not worthy of love, that not even my parents could love me. I truly believed that I was a nobody, a nothing and I guess that's why alcohol was a welcomed friend. It took away the pain and the feeling of uselessness and made me numb._

 _I took that realisation into adulthood and my marriage at 18 was my feeble attempt to try and have some love – trying to feel something, wanting to be something more than being numb. You know how that worked out._

 _You probably know my history with men as well as I do. I pick men with issues because deep down I know I will never love them fully and it gives me an excuse to break up. I mean, how can you love someone else when you can't love yourself?_

 _I know how you felt about Mic but he was a pretty decent guy, his only fault was that he loved me. I wanted so badly to be loved, to be a somebody rather than a nobody that I was willing marry him and learn to love him. You know how that worked out._

 _Then there was Clay and it was the same sort of thing. However, with Clay I realised he was the same as me. It wasn't about being in love, it was about having somebody who cares, somebody who is interested in you. Somebody to come home to or… well, you know._

 _My whole life has been about choosing the wrong men for the wrong reason. I guess that's why I never chose you. We dance around the issue of us and then one of us sabotages it. For my part I think I do this because as much as I want you in my life, as much as I need you, I still feel unworthy of love. If I actually allow myself to feel and admit those feelings to you, I don't know if I could cope if it didn't work out._

 _I know our relationship has had some very negative and painful moments and there is no way of changing that but you have been and remain my best friend and I trust you, I care about you and I need you in my life._

 _I don't know where to go from here. I don't know what to do. I just don't know._

 _Mac_

 _PS. Now that I have just read what I have written it doesn't make anymore sense than our conversations. I hope you get what I mean._

He read it twice and then read it again. He didn't know what to make of it. Was Mac saying they had no hope? Was she saying she did have feelings but couldn't act on them? Was she saying she wanted him? Just what was she saying?

Harm decided to write her a reply. He took out a notepad and pen and began. A pile of wadded paper on the floor gave testimony to his difficulty starting. He couldn't get past _Dear Mac_ without it sounding corny.

For the eighth time he picked up the pen and this time he started with _Dear Sarah,_ the rest flowed.

 _Dear Sarah,_

 _I was surprised to get your letter but I don't think you are a coward, in fact I think you are very brave to commit your thoughts to paper. You are right, we do dance about the topic of us and I think I understand what you have tried to say in your letter._

 _So let me have my turn. I need to do this in two parts, the first about me and the second about you. I hope you don't mind._

 _My experiences with love, true love have been few and far between. I guess I learnt at a young age that loving someone can be very painful and that no matter how much you love them they can just disappear from your life one day._

 _I thought I had gotten over dad's death as a child but it became more of an obsession as I got older – and you know all about that, as it was because of you I got closure._

 _As a young man I fell for the woman I thought was the love of my life. She was beautiful, she was funny, she was intelligent, she was perfect and then it ended. She was the first person I had allowed to get close to me and I thought the world was over when we split but I got through it. I think I always harboured the thought that we would get back together. I couldn't imagine my life without her – but you know how that turned out._

 _My issue is not about being unworthy but of being scared of the pain of lost love. I choose the right women for the right reason. They are good company, they often love me, I care about them and when it doesn't work my heart stays intact and I move on – that's what is right for me, theoretically of course._

 _Sarah, please know that you are somebody to me. If I was being really honest with myself, and I guess this is a perfect opportunity to do so, then I would say you are the most important person in my life. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if you had never come into it. I consider that day in the Rose Garden to be the luckiest one in my life._

 _You are amazing. You are a wonderful, caring person who thinks of others before herself. You have been there for me in so many ways, so often, that I don't know what I would have done without you. You are special, so very special. You are extraordinary. You are exceptional. You are unique. You are incredible. You are so many, many things. Above all, though, you are the woman that I love._

 _I know we have made a mess of 'us' and I don't expect for this to change right this minute, but what I do know is that I want you in my life forever._

 _I know you don't know where to go to from here, I just ask that wherever you do go you take me with you._

 _Love Harm._

Harm reread his letter and he knew it wasn't perfect but it was the best he could do. He found an envelope, put it in and wrote Mac on it. He placed it on the coffee table next to hers and realising it was nearly 0300 went to bed.

 **Harm's Apartment**

 **Saturday 0915**

The phone awoke him and he grabbed blindly for it through heavy eyelids.

'Rabb,' he croaked.

'Hi Flyboy, did I wake you?' Mac voice came brightly down the line.

'Ah, yeah," he admitted.

'Sorry, do you want me to call you back?' she asked.

'No Mac, I'm awake now. What's up?' He sat up in bed, happy to have her on the phone.

'I'm after some advice," she said.

'Advice?' he questioned.

'Yes, some advice. Don't sound so sur…' static on the line made the rest of the sentence disappear.

'Mac? You still there?' Harm asked.

'Yeah, I'm…..' again the static interfered.

'Mac? Mac?' The line went dead and he hung up.

He stayed in bed for a while longer hoping she would call back but it was not to be. Eventually he got up and went into the shower, as Harm lathered the shampoo in his hair the phone rang. He jumped out and grabbed the phone, dripping water everywhere.

'Mac?' he answered.

'No sir, it's Bud, something wrong with the Colonel?' Bud asked.

'No Bud, she called earlier and the line dropped out I thought she might call back," Harm said.

'It was probably her cell phone, she doesn't get perfect coverage with it interstate," Bud explained.

'Interstate? She was going home last night when I spoke to her at work.'

'The General sent her out to San Diego on a 1945 flight from Andrews last night.'

'1945, are you sure?'

'Yes sir, why?

'It doesn't matter.' Harm hung up without waiting to see what Bud had wanted.

He stood there dripping on the carpet for a few minutes until shampoo ran into his eyes, sending him back to the shower.

When he was finally dried and dressed he went to the kitchen and poured himself a coffee. He walked over to the coffee table and stopped in his tracks – the letters he had expected to see there were missing. He searched the apartment, thinking that in the fog of the early morning he could have put them somewhere else, but couldn't find them.

Sitting on the sofa he thought about the night before, could it have been possible that the whole thing was a dream? The phone rang and he jumped up to answer it.

'Commander, are you alright?'

'Yes Bud, why do you ask?'

'You hung up on me before.'

'Oh, I'm sorry Bud, I was a bit preoccupied.'

'I figured that, anything I can help you with?'

'Tell me why the Colonel is in San Diego.'

'She's investigating a bar room brawl which saw two ensigns hospitalised and one civilian arrested.'

'And she left at what time?'

'1945 as far as I know sir, is there a problem?'

'I'm not sure. Anyway Bud, what can I do for you?'

'Harriet and I wanted to have you over for dinner tomorrow about 1900.'

'Sounds great, can I bring anything?'

'Just yourself.'

'Ok then, see you then.'

Harm replaced the receiver and then tried to call Mac on her cell, there was no answer. He left no message and hung up. He closed his eyes and tried to clarify the whole situation. He was prepared to believe the night before was a dream, that the letters and Mac's visit were nocturnal ramblings. He had nearly convinced himself of it when he picked up his keys and saw the witch with the warty nose dangling there. It had been real.

 **Roberts Residence**

 **Sunday 1910**

Harm was greeted at the door by an enthusiastic six year old launching himself at him.

'Hey there kiddo,' said Harm scooping him up.

'I'm so glad you're here, Uncle Harm, I've got a new model plane I want to show you and …'

'And … let Uncle Harm in the door first please, AJ,' said Harriet coming up behind him. 'Hi Commander,' she said kissing his cheek. 'So glad you could come.'

'Hi Harriet, something smells great.'

'Hi sir,' said Bud coming into the living room. 'Can I get you a drink?'

'Juice would be fine.'

'One juice coming right up.'

Dinner was a noisy affair and when the dishes were finished Bud went upstairs to put two very tired boys to bed. Harriet led Harm into the study and placed his tea on the table in front of him.

'So, what's happening in your life?' Harriet asked aware that her guest was not his normal self.

'Not a lot, Harriet.'

'Something you want to talk about, Harm?'

'No, why do you ask?'

'You seem to be rather preoccupied, anything I can do to help?'

'You'd probably think I was crazy if I told you.'

'No crazier than I think you are now,' Harriet laughed.

'Well, it's like this,' Harm began. Suddenly Jimmy began screaming and Harm was left on his own.

'Clarissa, what have you done?' asked Martha, appearing alongside her outside the window. 'You know he can't tell anyone about the last twenty four hours. No one would believe him.'

'Martha, I'm sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing with the letters, you know getting things moving. I am working to a deadline you know.'

'What deadline?'

'If Harmon and Sarah don't declare their love by 2359 Tuesday, then I will never get my wings back.'

'Oh, your probation, what was it again that lost you your wings?' Martha asked.

'Paraguay,' Clarissa said sadly, shaking her head. She couldn't believe she had made a rookie mistake. Instead of keeping her eyes on the prime subjects, that being Harmon and Sarah, she had been watching Clayton Webb, and as history showed things went pear-shaped quickly.

'So Clarissa, you have two days, what are you going to do?'

'I don't know, Martha. What do you suggest?'

'Well, if it were me, the first thing I'd do is get Harmon out of here.'

'I can do that.'

Harm stood and took his cup to the kitchen, suddenly feeling that he wanted to go home.

'Bud,' he said quietly as his friend came downstairs. 'Hate to eat and run but something's come up.'

'Anything you need help with?'

'No, thanks anyway.'

Harm sat on his sofa holding the warty nose witch key ring in his hand. Between the letters, the key ring and his sudden urge to leave the Roberts, he couldn't figure out what was going. He began to feel that he may be coming down with something, so he downed a couple of aspirin and went to bed.

San Diego

Sunday 2000

Mac had returned to her billet and lay in her bed exhausted. It had been an extremely hectic 48 hours and she felt that the case was going nowhere. She knew Ensign Peters was guilty but there was no evidence and without an admission of guilt this case could go on and on. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come and it did quickly. It was noises outside her room that woke her at midnight and she couldn't get back to sleep.

She searched the bottom of her bag for her book, hoping that would help, but instead pulled out her letter to Harm and reread it.

'How did you get in there?' she asked the letter. 'I left you on my dresser.' She shook her head. 'God, I'm talking to a letter. Oh great, now I'm talking to myself.' She threw the letter on the bed and resumed her search for the book.

For the second time Mac pulled out an envelope. Her hands began to tremble as she realised her name was in Harm's handwriting. Slowly she pulled the letter out and read the words he had written in response. Her eyes filled with tears as she read his declaration of love and spilt over at his closing statement, for her to take him with her, wherever it may be.

Teary and confused, Mac clutched the letter to her chest. Her head was spinning. _How did he get my letter? How could he respond? I only wrote it a few days ago!_ And on it went a constant dialogue through her brain that couldn't be answered or explained. Finally she drifted off to sleep and was woken at 0605 by an incessant phone.

'MacKenzie,' she muttered.

'Hi Mac, did I wake you?'

'Harm!' she was fully awake now.

'Look, have you got a minute?'

'Sure.'

'I wanna ask you about something?'

'Sure.'

'Why did you ring me Saturday? What advice did you want?'

'Just wanted to pick your brain about something, why?'

'No reason.'

'Harm, you ring me at 0606 on a Monday morning for no reason. What gives?'

'Sorry Mac, I'm just a little confused.'

'About what?'

'You wouldn't believe it if I told you.'

'Try me,' said Mac looking at the letters on her bed.

'When will you be home?'

'Not until Friday at least, this case is going nowhere fast.'

'Sorry to hear that.'

'Me too. So what strange things have been happening to you?' Mac pushed.

'Clarissa!' shrieked Martha. 'They can't…'

'I know!' and the line went dead.

'Well, Clarissa, what now?' Martha asked wearily.

'Sarah can't be here all week. She needs to be back in Washington by tomorrow at the latest.'

'So what are you going to do?'

'I'll give her twenty four hours to work on the case and after that I'll help it along.'

'You can't interfere with the justice system, you know the rules.'

'Yes I do and I know a way around it.'

'Oh Clarissa, do be careful.'

General Archer's Office

San Diego, 1112

'So Colonel, bring me up to speed on this case.'

'Sir, there's not a lot to tell really. Whilst all the blame seems to point to Ensign Peters starting the feud there is nothing but circumstantial evidence and so I don't think the police can hold Max Hudson any longer.'

'So what do we do now?'

'I'll keep investigating for as long as it takes.'

'Colonel, I thought this would all be over by now.'

'So did I sir, but I can't play expediency off against justice. No one would win.'

'Alright Colonel, just wrap it up as soon as you can.'

'Aye, aye, sir,' said Mac and she departed.

Sitting in her temporary office, Mac reviewed the file again, there was nothing. 'What I need now is a miracle,' she said to the empty room.

'Clarissa,' nudged Martha, 'she's ready for your help.'

With that the phone rang and Mac was summoned to the bedside of Ensign Peters where he made a full and frank confession regarding his part in the fracas. He accepted that he would face charges and that he would plead guilty.

'What changed your mind?' Mac asked as she concluded.

'I don't know, ma'am, something just came over me.'

'See Martha, I knew what I was doing. I just had to prick his conscience.'

'Will Sarah get home in time?'

'I hope so.'

Washington DC

2135

Mac fiddled with her seabag on the cab ride back from Andrews searching for the letters but she couldn't find them. 'They can't have vanished!' she said in frustration.

'What can't have vanished, ma'am?' asked the driver.

'Oh, nothing, it's alright,' she said embarrassed that she spoken out loud.

'Are you alright, ma'am?'

'Yes, I'm fine. Look can I change my destination?' and surprising herself she reeled off Harm's address and sat back confused as to why she had done it.

'Very good, Clarissa, you've got them to come together but what are you going to do about the letters?'

'Oh, don't worry Martha, I have a plan for that.'

Harm was looking out of his window as Mac's cab pulled up in the street below. He watched her get out with her seabag, pay the driver and look up at his windows. He turned and looked at the door, knowing that only last Friday he had believed she was coming up, only to find she had gone to San Diego and now that she was supposed to be in San Diego here she was coming up again. He shook his head in an effort to clear the fog, but it didn't work.

A couple of minutes passed and then a couple more, when there was no knock at the door he wasn't surprised. He went and opened it anyway and was stunned to see Mac standing there.

'You didn't knock,' were his first words.

'I was about to but I dropped my purse,' she explained and in the process dropped it again.

The both bent down to retrieve it knocking heads in the process.

'Ow!' exclaimed Mac falling backwards.

'Ow! You're right,' Harm agreed rubbing his head with one hand and helping her up with the other. 'Are you okay, Mac?'

'No real damage, Harm,' she smiled. 'You?'

'I'm fine, come in, come in,' he ushered her inside. All memory of the letters had vanished for both of them.

'I knew I could do it Martha. I'm going to get those wings back!'

'Look at the time Clarissa, it 2346, you haven't much time left.'

'I know, I know, I hate working to a deadline but you know the union rules.'

'Why midnight tonight though Clarissa?'

'Because it's Halloween.'

'What's that got to do with us, we're angels?'

'Yes but that makes tomorrow All Saints Day, the day when angels on probation can regain their wings.'

'But Clarissa…'

'Martha, I'd love to chat but time is a-ticking and these two are not helping me.'

Harm and Mac had chatted amiably for a while both a little befuddled by recent events but not able to give voice to them. Finally, Mac got up and placed her cup on the kitchen counter.

'I should be going home,' she said turning to face Harm. One step, two step.

'Now!' shouted Clarissa as Martha silently pushed Mac's seabag in her path making her trip and fall into Harm's arms.

'Whoa Mac!' Harm exclaimed holding her tightly. 'Does this mean you are falling for me?' he asked with a smile.

Mac was about to protest but Clarissa had other ideas. 'The truth, Sarah,' she whispered.

'I fell for you a long time ago, Harmon Rabb,' she said simply.

He stood her up and searched her eyes. 'What did you say?'

'I said I fell for you a long time ago.'

'Really!?'

'As if you didn't know, Flyboy.' She moved her face towards him, the ball would be in his court. 'Well,' Harm began before words failed him.

'Oh Clarissa, you are so close but look at the clock. He's going to blow it, he can't find the words and you have under a minute.'

'Not this time, no way.' Clarissa moved behind Harm and pushed his head forward, his lips brushing against Mac's. 'Say it,' she commanded.

'I love you Sarah MacKenzie,' he said kissing her tenderly.

'I love you too Harm,' Mac replied responding to his kiss.

The clock struck midnight.

'I did it! I did it!' exclaimed Clarissa embracing Martha and dancing outside the window. 'I can't believe it, they are actually together! They said I love you! And wasn't it so sweet!'

'Yes it was, Clarissa, now you must go,' said a voice from behind them.

'Oh Gloria,' said Martha grabbing the hand of their colleague. 'It's so good to see you.'

'Gloria! _The_ Gloria!' exclaimed Clarissa. 'But you hardly ever do case work anymore.'

'Only the special cases these days, child.'

'What's your field these days, Gloria?' asked Martha.

'I specialise in conception.'

'But that's easy,' Clarissa whined, her job had been harder.

'It often is, Clarissa, but some cases need special help and that's why I'm here.'

'What's so special?'

'There is a beautiful spirit waiting up there,' Gloria said looking skywards. 'A perfect little girl who will have a huge influence on the future of this country.'

'And?'

'And she will only reach her potential if Harmon and Sarah are her parents.'

'Wow!'

'Wow, indeed. Now I see that the subjects have made their way to the bedroom, so I think it's time for you both to go.' And with that Clarissa and Martha disappeared into the night. Gloria put on her glasses, pulled out a book and began to read.

Mac pulled Harm down onto the bed with her and kissed him passionately again and again. Hands worked at a rapid pace to discard useless clothing and before long their love had been consummated twice and both were asleep. Gloria put her book down and looked in on the pair. They made such a lovely couple.

In the darkness of the room she saw Mac stir.

'Harm, you awake?'

'Hmph,' he replied.

'Harm?' she nudged him and he woke up.

'Harm did you move my seabag and make me fall?' she asked confused as to how her bag could have moved nearly a metre on its own accord.

'No, it must have been Casper,' he smiled.

'Casper?'

'Yeah, Casper the friendly ghost, it is, was, Halloween after all.'

'Well, thank you Casper or any other ghost that helped out,' said Mac.

'You're welcome dear,' came Gloria's unheard reply. 'But we are angels.'

And as the cares and woes of their past drifted away, the witch with the warty nose faded away to be a murky memory to Harm.

'Harm, are you going to sleep?'

'No,' he said trying to stay awake. 'Why?'

'Do you love me?'

'You know I do.'

'Prove it to me,' Mac said rolling on top of him.

'Again! Aren't you satisfied?'

'Not yet.'

'When will you be?' Harm asked somewhat disappointed. He had thought it had been perfect.

'Third time's the charm.'

'Well, this will be the third time.'

'Oh sorry, I meant the third time we make love on our 65th wedding anniversary,' she said biting on his lower lip.

'The third time we make love on our 65th wedding anniversary,' he repeated.

'Maybe the fourth time,' she laughed.

'And what makes you think I'll marry you, Mac?' he asked tumbling them over in the bed.

'You can't live without me, Flyboy, can you?' Harm stopped and looked down at her in all seriousness.

'No I can't, Sarah.' He kissed her tenderly and their love making continued.

Gloria chuckled and picked up her book. 'This might be a lot easier than I thought.


End file.
